Querc-r. is the oak’s quiet astringency applied to the drinker’s portal habit. Its essence is twofold: (1) a behavioural shift—diminishing desire for alcohol—and (2) an organ relief—liver/spleen decongestion with attenuation of venous outlets (haemorrhoids, facial flush), restoring steadiness of stomach, sleep, and pulse. The patient is not a dramatic neurotic; he is habit-bound, plethoric, with head heat evenings, sour stomach mornings, and a waistband he loosens for hypochondrial drag. When the remedy matches, abstinence becomes easier, because the physiology—portal pressure, mucosal laxity, venous tension—is eased. That is Querc-r.’s signature difference from Nux-v. and Caps.: it turns down the craving while lightening the portal load.

Its polarities are coherent: worse alcohol, rich food, damp/marsh air, tight waist, straining; better abstinence, warmth, open bowels, light diet, dry air, rest. The “oak” theme of toning and holding appears in pharyngeal relaxation, venous walls, and bowel mucosa—astringency without harshness, a re-gathering of tone that allows sleep to lengthen and mornings to clarify. Use it intercurrently to break the craving–portal loop; then, if needed, hand the case to the hepatic/splenic specialists (Card-m., Chel., Ceanoth.) or to the acute gastric disciplinarian (Nux-v.). When you see the strap-marked hypochondria, the bleeding piles of the plethoric drinker, the hot face/cold feet, and, above all, when the patient says after a few days, “I don’t fancy it like before,” you have likely met Querc-r. [Clarke], [Hughes], [Boericke], [Boger], [Kent].